Lillehamring

To be fair, i was refrencing the 3 game slump, mid-season. That's a deeply questionable statement - i'm not sure what your angle is, but he is very mobile and he has shown this season that his arm strength is amongst the best? It just feels like all the reasons people seem to give as to why he's not an MVP candidate don't stack up - the YAC myth, the arm strength fallacy, the system QB thing, the fact that he has quality talent around him - he's proven all of these to be untrue or it's been demonstrated that he's no different to previous MVP winners, and still the pundits are like - yeah, but... When everyone knows that had been picked in the top 4 rounds, we'd not be having this conversation.

See, there you go - i love price's OTT celebrations, and i find de sousa very pedestrian. It is fascinating, and i think it's because it's such an idiosyncratic sport - just the way certain players hold their darts can unsettle me, like people who hold pens or cutlery (norwegian's are freaks with cuttlery!) in a weird way. Simon Whitlock is another whose technique i find a bit unsettling - i think it's because i'm a bit OCD

Millwall came at us, so it was more of a balance of possession play and transition play than most games - but we're showing now, even with our reserves, that we can do both elements well.

It's a fair point, but we don't know how we'll approach playing in the PL - we've seen that maresca is adaptable and will change his tactics to suit the game/opposition, so the type of game we play now might be, as you suggest, more high risk because he knows that more often than not we'll get away with it. Also, by then we'll have another 20 games and a second pre-season under our belts to iron out some of these issues.

But it's all relative - the fact that we are by some distance the best defensive team in the league magnifies any problem that we might have in this area. How can we be conceding 0.4 goals from open play, around half the amount of our nearest rivals, and yet be conceding nearly twice as many goals per match from set pieces. When you are performing at the elite level we are then such anomalies stand out - we've had so little to complain/worry about, it's inevitable that people are going to pick up on such a clear flaw and over dramatize it, especially since it has been an issue during our relegation seasons. as far as over-reactions go - per foxes talk - this concern seems actually fairly reasonable.

Sure, it's only a general picture of the situation - but clearly for a team that is so strong defensively, we shouldn't be ranked so poorly for a defensive element. 10 goals conceded in open play, 8 from set pieces - that's way out of proportion and clearly an area where we can improve measurably - especially when we rarely concede more than one goal per match. It cost us points at boro and leeds.

What! I don't have a narrative - i'm just saying that if you compare the goals as a numeric value it seems normal, but if you look at the amount of set piece goals we concede relative to the total amount of goals we concede, it's a really high number, i higher number than anyone else - i have no narrative - you asked how it compares to other teams, and compared to other teams we concede a relatively high number of set piece goals. Jeez... wish i hadn't bothered answering your query.

Well, to extend your example: if 44% of the drink you have is whisky - you have a problem

Oops, my bad i refreshed the page and it switched to 'For' rather than against with Cardiff. So then we are 24th and worst - no one i can see has conceded a higher percentage than 44% of their total goals from set pieces

I can only say what i see - and i thought we carved them open most times we got the ball. But sure, i could have been more specific, they didn't defend well as a team though they had individuals who made key stops. Still can't justify the idea that they were 'comfortably better'

I'm not sure it's a 'sacrifice' to spend time improving the weakest areas of your game. We're clearly comfortable defending in open play, we don't really need practice that area, so surely we've plenty of time to practice defending set pieces?

But you wanted to know how we compared to the other teams in the league, and we're considerably worse - almost half our goals conceded have been from a set piece - as such, we are ranked #23 for conceding from set pieces, only Cardiff seem to be worse than us. For the best defence in the league, that is terrible. When you've played 26 games and only conceded 10 goals from open play, to have conceded 8 from set pieces is terrible.

The view from one angle made it look very soft - it was a hand to the back more than a shove, maybe cannon's momentum made him stumble. Had it been given against us, i'd have been fuming.

No, the point is that we're conceding far more goals from set pieces as a percentage of total goals than any other team - thus, it is a problem. No spin, just a fact.

I see your point - but if we're in the PL next year we'll more than likely have different players involved and half a season and a second pre-season under our belts, so what little it might show us is immaterial.

Which kind of negates your opening comment. They moved the ball quickly and found spaces but they were rotten in the final third and they were horrible defensively. Comfortably better is an absurd statement.

The problem with that stat is that we've only conceded 18 goals in total - so 44% of the goals we've conceded are from set pieces. So, yeah, it's not costing us much, but it's clearly an issue - blackburn have only conceded 6% of their goals from set pieces.

I'd been inclined to argue that the 2nd one was a tad more forgivable, given how unexpected it was, it would have caught out many teams. The first was far worse to concede - bullied out for the header and then albrighton playing absolutely everyone onside.

To be fair, Millwall got in constantly right across the pitch....

Well, even in the three games he lost mid-season, they put up 17 points - 9 games this season that would have been a winning score, the 19 against baltimore even more so. For me those games the defense let the team down.

Where have i said i hate him I just don't find it enjoyable watching him - it's a sport full of individuals some i enjoy watching, others i don't: he's one that i don't. It's like the actor Andrew Scott, he's a fine actor, i'm sure, but there's just something about him that makes me squirm... Some people just rub you up the wrong way. It's not hateful, just uncomfortable.

Trouble with that is our only other options in that position are fatawu and yunus - until we know what's happening with them, we can't afford to sell mcateer

Cue a bid from forest....

If doyle doesn't come back, we're still not going to want justin or nelson as our first choice LCB